Nigeria: Anti-LGBT Law Threatens Basic Rights

(Abuja, January 15, 2014) – The Same-Sex Marriage
(Prohibition) Bill signed into law on January 7, 2014, by
President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria is a sweeping and dangerous
piece of legislation, Human Rights Watch said today. The law
criminalizes public displays of affection between same-sex
couples and restricts the work of organizations defending
gay people and their rights. President Jonathan should
immediately repeal the draconian law.

The law imposes a
14-year prison sentence on anyone who “[enters] into a
same-sex marriage contract or civil union,” and a 10-year
sentence on individuals or groups, including religious
leaders, who “witness, abet, and aid the solemnization of
a same-sex marriage or union.” It imposes a 10-year prison
sentence on those who “directly or indirectly make [a]
public show of [a] same-sex amorous relationship” and
anyone who “registers, operates, or participates in gay
clubs, societies, and organizations,” including supporters
of those groups.

“This law criminalizes the lives of gay
and lesbian people, but the damage it would cause extends to
every single Nigerian,” said Graeme Reid, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
(LGBT) rights director at Human Rights Watch. “It
undermines basic universal freedoms that Nigerians have long
fought to defend and is a throwback to past decades under
military rule when civil rights were treated with
contempt.”

The Nigerian Senate approved the bill on
November 29, 2011, and the House of Representatives passed
it on its third and final reading in May 2013. A
“harmonization committee” finalized the bill in
December, preparing the way for President Jonathan’s
signature.

The new legislation could lead to
imprisonment solely for a person’s actual or imputed
sexual orientation. People could face charges for consensual
sexual relations in private; advocacy of LGBT rights; or
public expression of their sexual orientation or gender
identity. The terms “same-sex marriage” and “civil
union” are so broadly defined in the law that they include
virtually any form of same-sex cohabitation.

“The law is
so vague that it is likely to lead to the arbitrary arrest
of gay people, while facilitating extortion and blackmail of
vulnerable groups by members of Nigeria’s notoriously
corrupt security services,” Reid said. “This law
threatens to further marginalize an already stigmatized
population, driving them underground and imperiling their
rights and their health.”

Mainstream human rights
organizations in Nigeria could be threatened for opposing
the law, and have said they fear speaking out about it.
Funders or supporters of LGBT rights and related work in
Nigeria could also face increased scrutiny under the law,
Human Rights Watch said.

Nigeria has the world’s
third-largest number of people livingwith HIV/AIDS, and its National Agency for
the Control of AIDS has recognized the need to target
vulnerable groups in HIV/AIDS outreach efforts, including
people who engage in same-sex conduct. The law will hinder
their efforts by criminalizing those who conduct outreach to
LGBT groups. By banning undefined “gay meetings,” it
could also criminalize programs funded by major donors that
provide education on HIV prevention and health for men who
have sex with men.

The law contradicts fundamental
freedoms under international human rights treaties and
standards, which the Nigerian Constitution also guarantees.
The Nigerian Constitution, under section 40, guarantees
that: “Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely
and associate with other persons, and in particular he may
form or belong to any political party, trade union, or any
other association for the protection of his interests.”
Section 17 affirms that “every citizen shall have equality
of rights, obligations, and opportunities before the
law.”

The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
similarly guarantees the right to freedom of expression
(article 9), freedom of association (article 10), and
freedom of assembly (article 11), and the equality of all
people (articles 2 and 3). Its article 26 prescribes that:
“Every individual shall have the duty to respect and
consider his fellow beings without discrimination, and to
maintain relations aimed at promoting, safeguarding, and
reinforcing mutual respect and tolerance.” The African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights stated in 2006
that the guarantee of equal protection extends to sexual
orientation.

The International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Nigeria acceded without
reservations in 1993, also guarantees the rights to
information and to freedom of expression (article 19),
freedom of assembly (article 21), and freedom of association
(article 22). The ICCPR affirms the equality of all people
before the law and the right to freedom from discrimination
(articles 2 and 26). The United Nations Human Rights
Committee, which monitors states’ compliance with the
ICCPR, concluded in 1994 that sexual orientation should be
understood to be a status protected from discrimination
under these articles, and ruled that laws criminalizing
consensual, private same-sex sexual acts are a violation of
the right to privacy guaranteed in the ICCPR.

The criminal
code, in effect in southern Nigeria, and the penal code, in
northern Nigeria, already impose up to a 14-year prison term
for anyone who has “carnal knowledge” or “carnal
intercourse” with any person “against the order of
nature.” As Human Rights Watch documented in a 2008 report, these laws are
Victorian-era provisions that remained after the end of
British colonial rule. Sharia penal codes, introduced in
northern Nigeria since 1999, criminalize “sodomy” with
caning, imprisonment, or death by stoning. Same-sex
marriages or civil unions are not recognized in Nigeria,
Africa’s most populous nation, and there is no move to
legalize same-sex unions.

For nearly 30 of its first 54
years since independence in 1960, Nigeria was ruled by
successive military dictatorships. Human rights and
democracy activists were arrested, media freedom was
restricted, and due process rights were suspended. Nigeria
returned to civilian rule in 1999.

“This is the most
repressive law restricting these fundamental rights since
the end of military rule,” Reid said. “If the government
can strip one group of its freedoms, then it can legislate
away the rights of
others.”

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